May Favourites

May has really flown by, with my holiday and coming back to work I've been so busy! It's also been a great month beauty-wise, so here are my favourites!

I've been absolutely loving my new fragrances this month. The Body Shop's Raspberry Eau de Toilette has become one of my go-to fragrances, it's so sweet and summery! You can find it here for £8.50. I've also fallen completely in love with my new DKNY Be Delicious perfume in Fresh Blossom. This scent just feels perfect for me at the moment, it really wakes me up in the mornings when I apply it and the scent hangs around all day. I love it! You can find it here for £34.99 (30ml). 

I've also been having fun playing with my new OPI nail polishes! The brighter shades are fantastic for summer and even though I didn't pick up much of a tan in Corfu, I think they'd look great if you were lucky enough to pick one up on your holidays! I'm definitely going to be keeping my eye out for OPI in the future.

I couldn't write a post about beauty faves without including my TheBalm blush palette! I waited for what felt like forever for this to arrive and now I can't get enough of it. The blushes are all beautiful, I still can't pick a favourite. They're long lasting and so incredibly easy to blend. You can find this palette here for £26.

What have been your beauty favourites this month? Have you tried any of my favourites?

Beauty Box Buys #1

The idea for this post was suggested to me by one of my friends (Thanks Kat!) via the blogs Facebook page, and I instantly loved it! This is going to be a new feature once a month, in which I will mention the items I have received in beauty boxes that I would most recommend! 

Birchbox

This month's Birchbox was a good one. The standout item for me was the TheBalm blush palette, How 'bout Them Apples? I loved it so much I bought the full size palette with my Birchbox points! The palette is available from TheBalm's website, but it'll have to be shipped from the US. A better bet is Cloud10Beauty, they have the palette listed for £24.50 which is £1.50 cheaper than in the Birchbox shop, and you won't be running the risk of customs fees. 

Alternatively, you could enter my giveaway HERE and win yourself one!
 

This month's Birchbox also featured the Yes to...Cucumbers face wipes. These are great at removing make up and super refreshing. I know face wipes aren't everyone's thing, but I find them really helpful for removing mascara and clearing off any bits of make up I've missed with a cleanser. You can find the full-size packs of these here for £3.74.

Love Me Beauty    

Love Me Beauty had some great products this month, but my absolute favourite was this shampoo from Neal and Wolf. It smells amazing, and my hair feels so soft after using it! It is a bit pricey for an everyday shampoo, so I'm not sure if it's something I'll be repurchasing, but I'd definitely recommend it! Especially if flyaway hair is a problem you suffer with. My hair is quite fine so it does occasionally get quite irritating, but since using this I've not had any problems. It's available here for £11.50 for 250ml.

You've all heard me raving about the Betty Hula Secret Wonder Oil this month. I've mainly been using it for stretchmarks, but this can also be used for scarring, dry/sensitive and aging skin, combination skin, oily skin and for soothing sun burn. It is also recommended for eye wrinkles. The travel size rollerball is £6.25 and is available here along with Betty's other lovely goodies!

You Beauty Discovery   

This month's You Beauty box was fantastic. I loved both of the products I received, but my favourite was the Essential Care Creamy Coconut Cleanser. I picked this for my box on a bit of a whim, but I really love it. It removes all of my make up incredibly easily, and even removes mascara to a point. My skin feels clean and refreshed after I've used it, and I just think it's a great product! You can get it here for £14.50 (150ml) or £6 (30ml).

I also love the Clayspray from this month's box. This is probably going to be slightly out of budget for most people, but if you're feeling flush then I'd recommend giving it a try. These are literally cans that contain a clay mask. These dry to quite a solid mask and I found that it could be quite tricky to remove, but your skin feels amazing afterwards, so definitely worth the hassle. Don't get it in your hair though, I got a couple of stray strands in by accident and spent ages trying to get it out! Feelunique have the smaller 30ml sizes which might be better if you just want to get a feel for the product, which you can find here for £15, or you can get the larger 125ml cans here for £44.50 each. Feelunique also offer sets of clayspray masks with a spring water spray which is what Clayspray recommends you prep your skin with before applying the mask. I personally don't think it would make that much difference, but if you're interested, you can find those here for £35 each.

What do you think of my favourite beauty box picks from April? Would you buy any of these products?

 

TheBalm How 'Bout them Apples? Palette and Giveaway!

Since the April Birchbox, I have been so excited about this palette! It's finally arrived, and I am just as much in love as I thought I would be.

For starters, adorable packaging. Anything with a vintage pinup AND pugs?! It's like this was made for me, I love it! 

The inside packaging I'm not as in love with, but the blushes are stunning. These are super creamy, and you really do not need a lot of product to get a gorgeous build up of colour. 

The blushes are all matte, apart from crisp which has a tiny bit of peach shimmer to it. The swatches were all done with one swipe, so you can see what I mean when I say you won't need a lot of product. I can definitely see myself having to be careful with Cobbler to avoid the Coco the Clown look, but I basically can't wait to get these on my face!

I've been a bit of a sneaky blogger and bought a spare palette for one of my lucky readers to win! If you love the look of these gorgeous blushes, just fill out the details in the Rafflecopter below. This giveaway is open internationally, so make sure you do complete all the options to get the maximum entries (and no cheating! I will be checking to make sure people have entered correctly).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Birchbox - April 2014

This is probably the first time I've been really impressed by Birchbox. The other boxes I've received haven't been terrible, but I was really genuinely excited about this box, and I'm really pleased with what I got!

The item I was most excited about was this mini blush from the How 'Bout Them Apples? palette by TheBalm. I saw this palette being advertised a while ago and knew that I would have to get it, but at £26 it's slightly out of my budget. Luckily, I had £20 worth of Birchbox points, and the palette was in the shop so I've managed to nab it for just £6! Bargain. I shall have a review up as soon as I get it! As for this cute sample, I'll probably pop it into the up for grabs album on my blogs Facebook page for some lucky reader to nab, which is why I haven't swatched it. I just love the packaging for this blush. You can't beat pugs and a pin-up! 

There was also this primer from RMK. This isn't a brand I've tried before, and I'm always interested in trying out new primers! I think this is one of those crossover products that you can use on it's own to improve the appearance of skin, but also works as a primer as well. I can't wait to give it a go!

This month Birchbox gave us the option to choose the shade of nail polish we received from Colour Club. I managed to talk myself out of the mint green and sky blue shades (as I already have a ton) and went for this gorgeous shimmery gold. Colour Club is another new brand for me, but I love the formula for this polish so I can already see myself buying more!

Yes to... is a brand I've heard of before, but never tried. These face wipes smell fantastic, and I can already tell that they are going to have a lovely cooling effect on my skin. Looking at the full range on their website, they have some amazing sounding products. I'm particularly interested in the fruity lip balms! Unfortunately, only a small section of their stock is available in the UK, and the fruity lip balms are not included. 

We also received this Yin Yang Gold Defence Lotion. I think this is intended to be a moisturiser for hands and body for those who spend a lot of time outdoors. In other words, pretty heavy duty. I've used some on my hands and it sinks in really nicely, and doesn't leave any greasiness behind which I was surprised about as it's for outdoorsy types. My skin isn't overly dry but it just drank this up.

Finally, as a little extra, we received this cute bag of Propercorn. I am a massive fan of popcorn, but I tend to stick to salted! You can really smell the coconut when you open the bag, but I found the flavour was very similar to standard sweet popcorn. I couldn't really detect the vanilla. I think this was a cute little extra, but I'd have preferred a different flavour personally. 

Unfortunately, this will be my last Birchbox. I pay the same amount for this box as I do Love Me Beauty, and it just doesn't seem worth the price in comparison. I'm going to stick with Love Me Beauty, You Beauty Discovery, and Pooch Pack for now, and I've also just ordered my first Wantable box! I definitely have a subscription box problem...


Do you subscribe to Birchbox? What did you think to this month's box?

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